Shaking things up - San Francisco Business Times:

oc697vot.blogspot.com
Other, less well-to-do medical centers, continue to seek solutions that don't appeafr to be coming into Even if a new seismic classification system takesx some pressure offhospitals statewide, it's unlikelh to directly affect seismic work in the Bay which is riddled with major earthquaks faults. Using so-called Hazus software to reclassifyhospitals ' seismic risks is now expected to give up to 60 perceny of the state's hospitals untikl 2030 to meet strict new seismic safety guidelines, but is unlikely to affect those near significant faultr lines.
Further, many major hospitals and systems are alreadh committed tohuge projects, althougnh some of those have been reduced in scope in recent yearw due to rapidly rising construction costs. "I don'ty want more time," said Mark vice president of planning, design and construction for both and in Palo Further delay would simply add to the ultimate he said, and possibly to the dangers posef by a major quake. In California, "we don't know when the next earthquakde is goingto happen," Tortorich "We're taking our chances when we procrastinate.
" But rich hospitalsw are far more likely to followw that mantra than poorer ones, which in some casess have little choice but to wait and hope a solution emerges. Both Stanford Hospitalo and its affiliated pediatric hospital are moving forward with ajoiny $1 billion-plus project announced late last year to expand and modernize the side-by-side Palo Alto facilities. , meanwhile, has 14 hospitalsz under construction, including 12 in California, according to Bob Eisenman, Kaiser'es director of public policy for the national facilitiesservices unit, responsible for the $27 billiom hospital and medical office construction project.
Four seismif replacement facilities will open in Californiathis year, includinvg a 327-bed set to open Aug. 7 and threr replacements in Southern California. Three otherzs are slated to openin 2009, includinbg a revamped . If the Hazus approacuh is adopted, it's more likely to affect Kaise projects in Sacramento and the Central Eisenman said. "We're not really sure (what the exact impacyt will be) until we run the he said, "but we thinik Hazus has the potential of reclassifying a few of our which wouldbe good, and of lowering construction costs in the industry, whichb would be great.
" The developed by the Federal Emergench Management Agency and the , can assesw potential damage from naturalo hazards, including earthquakes. State officials say it can re-evaluate the risk of damages to individual hospital buildings by looking athow they're likel y to perform in a including factors such as structurakl elements, ground motion, soil composition, and distance from the Other major players are also continuing to pursue giant both to fulfill seismic requirementws and because many of their facilities are reaching the end of theirt useful lives. has shrunk its planneds $1.7 billion Cathedral Hill hospital and medical officwe building complex from as many as 650 bedsto 455.
has come up with a downsized $1.3 289-bed women's, children's and cancer hospita l in San Francisco's Mission Bay, and is making plans to raise $500 million to make the projec feasible, Burlingame's has started work on the first phases ofa $508 243-bed replacement hospital. And , with campusesd in Berkeley and Oakland, said late last monthb it's moving ahead with plans to spend $300 millionh to build a patieng tower and emergency departmengt at its Summit campus in Oaklandd and to explore a variety of smaller projectds at itsAlta Bates, Herrick and Summir sites. Late last year, Stanford Medicapl Center's joint project cost was pegged at upto $1.
1 but Tortorich admits that figure is just a stab in the The total cost of the complezx rebuild and retrofit is growing, and neither Hazus nor anythingh else is likely to changw that. "It's not going said Tortorich, arguing that Bay Area hospitakl construction costs will likely continue to soar becausrof near-simultaneous rebuilds or new construction under way or on the booksx at his own site, UCSF Medical Center, , a varietyy of Kaiser Permanente facilities and elsewhere, includinhg up Highway 101 from Stanford at Peninsula Medicapl Center in Burlingame and in Redwood Sequoia is gearing up to request more funding for its proposec seismic retrofit and expansion project, now projectesd to cost $240 millio or more, up from $130 millionn as recently as mid-2005.
And 's is planning a 97-bedr San Carlos medical center that coulrcost $375 million or more -- another projectf likely to fuel regional cost There's no sign any of these Bay Area projectx will be directly affected by the state'sz growing interest in using sophisticated software to take a fresh look at the need to replacre or retrofit huge numbers of California hospitals by the January 2013 deadline.
That deadline can be extended to 2015 if a hospita shows it madea good-faith efforr to meet the earlier mark but fell